


Game of Chance

by TheGreatCatsby



Series: If You Take Things Apart [3]
Category: The Avengers (2012), Thor (Movies)
Genre: Magic, brother feelings, some mention of torture
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-04-29
Updated: 2013-04-29
Packaged: 2017-12-09 21:41:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,361
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/778279
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheGreatCatsby/pseuds/TheGreatCatsby
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In which SHIELD tries to extract information from Loki, and Tony searches for the truth hidden amongst the lies.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Game of Chance

**Author's Note:**

> Sorry for any mistakes-I don't have a beta and I'm procrastinating from finals. I hope you enjoy this anyway!
> 
> Also if you want to follow my Tumblr I'm CatsbytheGreat!

In all of his years of living, never had Tony expected to wish for alien intervention. But that’s what was happening now. He wanted Thor to find Loki, and he wanted Loki to be in a jail on Asgard, and he wanted to never have to deal with Loki again. Tony Stark often got what he wanted. 

But he wasn’t sure this was what he actually wanted, and that bothered him. So he decided not to think about it. He also decided not to think about the black feather Loki had left behind. Certainly there was nothing special about a feather. It looked like it belonged to a crow, or a raven. 

He definitely didn’t have JARVIS analyze it, and he definitely wasn’t disappointed that for all intents and purposes, it was a normal feather. At least this meant that Loki probably wasn’t coming back and that was fine by him. So he told himself. 

No one else mentioned it. Clint, because he probably wanted to forget Loki more than any of them. And the rest because, well, no one really wanted to let on how worried they were about Loki being on the loose with the Tesseract. Madness lay down that road. 

In fact, Tony was thinking, maybe life could go back to normal. And three weeks after Thor’s last visit he went to sleep thinking that when he woke up, everything would be pleasantly normal. 

Which of course, it wasn’t. 

*

When something fell from the sky in the middle of upstate New York, SHIELD didn’t alert Tony Stark. They alerted other SHIELD agents and Natasha and Clint, because Natasha and Clint could get a job done quietly and they had experience with things falling from the sky.

The thing that had fallen from the sky was Loki. It really didn’t surprise anyone, though more than half the agents present had been hoping it would be Thor. 

But life was never that kind. 

Loki fought, and lost, and ended up handcuffed and drugged and headed to the SHIELD facility in New York City with new and improved magic blocks that everyone hoped would, if not completely stop his magic, would at least stop him from teleporting out of his prison. 

They hoped the drugs would also help. 

And then the interrogation began. Standard questions, like “Where is the Tesseract?” “How did you escape?” “What did you use the Tesseract for?” “Where is Thor?” 

None of which Loki answered. He remained silent, face white and eyes glaring. He was furious. But trapped. 

Clint said, “Somehow I don’t think just asking him questions will make him talk.” 

“Somehow I don’t think pain will, either,” Natasha said. 

Loki glared at the both of them. 

Clint glared back. Natasha remained impassive. 

“How does it feel to be on the other side?” Clint asked. 

Loki didn’t say anything, not that they expected him to. 

“Fine,” Clint said. “If you want to play hard to get, we’ll play hard to get.”

“Welcome to the game, Agent Barton,” Loki said. 

Clint turned on heel and walked out of the room. Shortly thereafter the experiments started. 

*

Tony didn’t find out about Loki until a week later. 

Natasha came into the kitchen, where he was making himself waffles, looking exhausted and a little bit frustrated, which was a little bit scary, because Natasha hardly ever looked like anything. If she was looking frustrated, it was because someone somewhere was being really fucking frustrating. Like, astronomical levels of frustrating. 

Tony wasn’t looking forward to this conversation. 

“Tony,” Natasha said. “We need to talk.” 

“Is our relationship on the rocks again?” Tony asked. 

“Tony.” Well, that wasn’t good. 

Tony turned away from his waffles. Natasha looked stern, and stern was never good. “What?” he asked, exasperated. 

“Were you compromised by Loki?” she asked. 

Tony stared at her. “What?” 

“He came to you for help,” Natasha said, “and you made him a weapon. And he came to you again a few weeks later. Don’t think we don’t know about it. We found out. JARVIS managed to tell us two days later.” 

“The fiend!” Tony cried. 

From above, JARVIS said, “I felt it was prudent, sir.” 

“Prudent my ass,” Tony snapped. “I didn’t know you had opinions on my guests.” 

“Look,” Natasha said, “keeping Loki here for the night without telling any of us wasn’t your smartest idea. Which makes me think that you trusted him. Which makes me think that he messed with you.” 

“I’m not mind controlled, if that’s what you’re asking,” Tony said. 

“I’m not. There are other ways of being compromised.” The way she said that made shivers run down Tony’s spine. 

“Loki’s an interesting character,” Tony told her. “He’s more interesting than Doom. I was curious, I guess? He came to me for help. Who does that? He came to me for help and I’m a foolish mortal.” 

“You’re useful,” Natasha said. “Loki has…flexible morals at best. I’m not surprised. If he could use you, he would. But I hope you know that’s all he was doing. Using you.” 

“Yeah, I know that,” said Tony, although hearing it like that sounded kind of harsh. Like Tony was just a tool. And sure, that’s what it was, when Tony looked back at it. And he’d only agreed because his life was in danger. And Loki, well, he certainly wasn’t going to be anyone’s friend anytime soon. But it did kind of hurt. Even if Tony had been analyzing Loki like he was an intriguing new piece of software. 

“Good,” Natasha said. “I wasn’t entirely sure you did.” 

“I’m not an idiot,” Tony snapped. “I know who Loki is.” 

“Interesting,” Natasha said, raising her eyebrows. “Because we don’t. We don’t know what he needed the Tesseract for. But he told you, didn’t he. That night he came.” 

Tony began to realize why, exactly, they were having this conversation. It was about more than Tony’s mental well-being, or even about the well-being of the Avengers as a team. 

“He didn’t,” Tony said. “I mean, he kind of insinuated that he used it against someone, but I don’t know who. He got revenge. It wasn’t on Asgard. Thor told us that. Then he left.” 

“He told you more than he’s told anyone else,” Natasha said. “Why is that?” 

“I don’t know. Exchange of information. A sort of messed up thank you? He didn’t exactly tell me why he told me.” 

Natasha made a humming noise and considered him for a moment. Tony felt increasingly uncomfortable. 

Finally she said, “We need you to talk to him. Meet me at SHIELD headquarters in two hours.” 

“Okay,” Tony said. She walked away. It took about five more minutes for his brain to catch up. “Wait, what?” 

That meant that SHIELD had Loki. That meant that SHIELD were keeping secrets from him. 

Again. 

It was going to be a long day. 

*

Tony spent the two hours until his meeting pestering the rest of the Avengers (or at least the ones he could find) about Loki. Bruce and Steve were just as surprised as he was to learn that SHIELD had Loki and that Loki was, in fact, not in some remote corner of space. 

“It seems like something we should be concerned about,” Steve said, “but they probably have their reasons.” 

“Yeah,” Tony said, “their reasons are being dicks.” 

“Not exactly what I had in mind,” said Steve. They left it at that. 

If it were possible, Loki had even more security than the last time he’d been with SHIELD. Natasha and Clint met him outside of the holding cell. 

“So when do I go inside?” he asked. 

“Never,” Clint said. “We’re accompanying you to an interrogation room. Loki’s there now.” 

“So he’s not in there,” Tony said, peering at the steel door. 

“Nope,” Clint said. 

“I hope you’ve been nice, at least,” Tony said. He was mostly serious. He had opinions about torture and SHIELD’s interrogation methods and none of them were positive. 

“Nope,” Clint said. 

Natasha had a vacant look on her face. Tony assumed someone was talking to her via earpiece. Sure enough, a moment later she said, “Follow me.” 

They followed her down a few corridors that all looked the same. Tony wondered if SHIELD needed a new interior designer. He assumed that Fury would say no, given that his goal was to take the fun out of everything. 

The interrogation room had a sign that said “Interrogation Room” on it, which almost made Tony laugh. But everyone else looked too serious, so he decided for once in his life to keep quiet. 

Natasha opened the door with a high-tech keycard thing. 

It actually looked kind of like a normal room, except the walls were reinforced steel and the prisoner was chained to a chair. Loki was drugged, no surprise, dressed in gray loose clothing, and there were bandages on his arms. Tony frowned at this. There was also a table in front of him and a chair opposite. Tony expected he was meant to sit in the chair. 

“Nice place,” he said. 

Fury was standing on one side of Loki, Coulson on the other. Both had guns. There were several SHIELD agents behind them. Tony imagined Loki was proud that he still caused so much fear in all of them. 

Tony had to admit, he would be afraid if he were them. Loki had a thing about revenge and he wasn’t afraid to use it. 

“Sit down,” Natasha said, closing the door behind him. And locking it. 

This was going to be fun.  
Tony took a seat across from Loki, who looked at him impassively. 

Tony smiled. “Hey, how’re you?” 

“They think I trust you,” Loki told him. 

“And do you?” Tony asked. When Loki didn’t answer, he added, “So, how long till Thor gets here?” 

“I’m sure the Allfather is content to leave you in charge of my punishment for the time being,” Loki said. “He has far more important matters to attend.” 

“You think he doesn’t care about you?” Tony asked. 

“Did I say that?” 

A loaded question. Tony mentally took a step back. This was Loki. He was already treading on thin ice. That was Loki’s default setting. 

“Why’d you come back?” Tony asked. “Didn’t you know you’d get captured by SHIELD?” 

“I hoped to hide here,” Loki said. 

“Liar.” This from Clint. 

“Perhaps.” Loki smiled. “Would you believe the truth?” 

“What’s the truth?” Tony asked. 

“You wouldn’t like it.” 

“Try me.” 

“I ran out of magic after trying to rid myself of the Tesseract.” 

“That’s bullshit,” Clint said. “You wouldn’t get rid of the Tesseract even if your life depended on it.” 

“I didn’t mean to come here,” Loki said. “And you know nothing of what I would give up for my life. But no, that’s not why I got rid of it.” 

“I have a hard time believing that,” Natasha said. “You still have it.” 

“Believe what you will,” Loki said. Tony noticed, now, that his words were slurred, that he was making an extra effort to speak clearly. “I knew you wouldn’t like the truth.” 

Tony wasn’t sure what to think. He didn’t know if it was the truth or a lie or a half-truth. Loki was really good at half-truths. 

Instead he thought of something else. “What’s with the feather?” he asked. He produced the black feather from his pocket and placed it on the table. 

“He gave that to you?” Clint asked sharply. 

“Yeah,” Tony said, “but according to JARVIS it’s an ordinary feather so I didn’t think anything of it. I thought it was just some sort of mind game to freak me out.” 

“What is it?” Fury asked from behind Loki. 

“It’s a feather,” Loki said. 

“What kind of feather?” Coulson prompted. Loki grimaced. That probably wasn’t good, that Coulson made Loki react like that. Tony wondered how their previous interactions had gone. Coulson had a lot to be angry at Loki for. 

“A raven’s father,” Loki replied. 

“Yeah, I get that,” Tony said, “but why? Last time you left something it was magical.” 

“A parting gift,” Loki said. “Do you know about Odin’s ravens?” 

“Memory and thought,” Natasha spoke up. “In the myths.” 

“Memory,” Loki repeated. 

“But it was just an ordinary feather,” Tony said, confused. “JARVIS checked. It wasn’t a super godly raven feather.” 

“No, it wasn’t,” Loki agreed. “It was an ordinary feather from an extraordinary raven. I wanted you to remember.” 

“Why?” 

Loki didn’t answer this question. He just stared ahead, expression going blank. 

“What’s your game?” Tony asked. “Your plan? Seriously, you’ve gotta have one. No one here is gonna believe for a second that you’re here on vacation or just passing through.” 

“What use are plans, Stark, when I have you mortals to fabricate them for me?” Loki smirked. “Sometimes the best plan is not a plan at all.” 

“Deliberately not having a plan is still a plan,” Natasha said. 

“I’m sure it is,” Loki said. He blinked, slowly. He looked tired. 

Tony leaned forward. “What did you do?” 

“I told you, Stark,” Loki said. “Revenge.” 

“On what?” Tony asked. “If it wasn’t us and it wasn’t Thor, who was it?” 

Loki laughed. Coulson checked his watch, then casually went over to one of the other agents, who was holding a box. He opened the box and messed around with whatever was inside. He came back holding a syringe full of clear liquid. 

Loki watched Tony watch Coulson and he stiffened, apparently understanding what was going on. Tony watched as Coulson, without preamble, slid the needle into the vein in Loki’s neck. Loki flinched. Coulson pushed the liquid into his body and Loki grimaced. 

“What is that?” Tony asked. 

“You wouldn’t like my truths,” Loki said, an echo of earlier, but now he sounded pained, less in control. 

“Something to keep him in line,” Coulson said. “Were he clear headed he would escape.” 

“How smart,” Loki hissed. “You’ve figured out that I’m capable of intelligent thought. You think your drugs can hold me—“ 

“We don’t think,” Natasha said, “we know. It’s working.” 

Loki clenched his hands into fists. “You will suffer for this,” he snarled. 

“Does it hurt?” Clint asked. 

Loki clenched his jaw and didn’t respond. 

“Stark,” Fury said, “we’ll continue this tomorrow. I’m afraid it’s time to take a break.” 

Tony was about to say that this sounded like a good plan, and then Loki started screaming. 

*

They adjourned to a meeting room, or rather, Natasha and Clint forced Tony into a meeting room while everyone else took care of Loki. But Tony wasn’t planning on going quietly. 

“What was that?” he yelled, voice echoing in the large room. Clint and Natasha didn’t seem at all phased by his anger. “What did you do to him?” 

“Calm down,” Natasha said, voice bordering on serene, which pissed Tony off even more. 

“I can’t calm down, he was fucking screaming,” Tony snapped. “What did you do?” 

“He’s a prisoner,” Clint said. “Come on, Tony.” 

“It’s a drug,” added Natasha, “that causes pain and hallucinations.” 

“You’re trying to break him,” Tony said. 

“Yes.” Natasha didn’t look away. “That a problem?” 

“I don’t…torture isn’t…” Tony was at a loss. 

“We do what we have to,” Natasha said. “Loki’s a criminal. He killed lots of people. He has information we need.”

“But we’re not criminals,” Tony insisted. “We take the moral high ground. Or we’re supposed to. We don’t just do something just as bad. We’re the good guys.” 

“That’s why we make the tough decisions,” Natasha said, “not you.” 

There was something almost like a challenge in her voice. “I’m not saying it’s easy,” Tony said, “but, I mean, aren’t there other ways? Look, I can probably get him to talk. Maybe if we give a little…” 

“We gave last time and it didn’t work,” Natasha said. 

“Thor’s going to kill you,” Tony pointed out. 

Clint shook his head. “Loki said they’ve stopped caring.” 

“Loki lies.” But part of Tony wondered if it was true. It was so hard to tell, with Loki, what was true and what was a lie. Yet Thor hadn’t come calling. And that was a sign. 

Natasha nodded. 

“It’s a catch-22,” Tony added. “If Loki lies you punish him. If he tells you the truth you won’t believe him, so you punish him until it’s confirmed.” 

“He deserves it,” Clint said. “He’s the one who lies all the time.” 

“I’m not saying it isn’t his fault,” Tony said, suddenly feeling defensive, “but I’m just saying we don’t know. We don’t know anything. Except that he had the Tesseract and he didn’t attack Asgard, or Earth.” 

“Yet,” Natasha pointed out. “He could have been planning it.” 

That was true. Tony hadn’t thought about it. But he also wasn’t convinced that Loki was, in fact, planning on attacking either Earth or Asgard. It didn’t seem to be his focus. His focus was something that they didn’t know about. Whatever he’d taken revenge on, whatever he’d done with the Tesseract, was beyond the issues he had with his former home and the place he tried to take over. 

Clint and Natasha were still watching him. Suddenly, Tony felt defeated. Useless. “What now?” 

“We’ll bring you back,” Natasha said. “He talks more to you than to anyone else.” 

“I helped him that one time,” Tony said. “I’m not surprised. I’m useful.” 

“You are,” Natasha agreed. “Just don’t stay that way. We don’t need Loki using you.” 

Tony nodded and after an awkward pause in which all three stared at each other, he moved forward and walked past the two SHIELD agents, and out the door. 

It had been a long day. Tony had no idea what was going on. And he wanted to get that screaming out of his head as quickly as possible. 

 

*

The next day Tony woke up to JARVIS telling him that Thor was in the kitchen, wanting to talk. 

Thor simultaneously happened to be the person Tony wanted to talk to the most and the person Tony wanted to talk to the least. Maybe Thor could stop the torture. But Tony also felt guilty about the torture. What if Thor blamed him? What if Thor wasn’t here to take Loki home? 

Thor had made himself a waffle and was eating it when Tony walked in. Tony didn’t remember teaching Thor how to make waffles, but he was pleased that the kitchen hadn’t burnt down all the same. 

Thor looked up and greeted him with a solemn nod. “Tony.” 

“Thor.” Tony took a seat across from him. “Please tell me you’re here to take Loki back to Asgard.”

“No.” Thor looked genuinely upset about this. “My father would like his punishment to be in the hands of those he’s wronged, and you are included in that number. As much as I disapprove of their methods, I must allow it.” 

“For how long?” Tony asked. “Or is it forever? Does he go back to Asgard afterwards?” 

“I know his time would be reduced if he relinquished the Tesseract,” Thor said. “I will talk to him today. Natasha has asked me to bring you as well. Apparently Loki talks more in your presence.” And now Thor looked interested, as though Tony had a secret that he needed to figure out. 

And Tony had no idea what that secret was. “I’ll come,” he said, “but there’s no guarantees. Loki pretty much hates everyone.” 

“That is no surprise,” Thor said, taking a final bite of waffle. “But we need to talk.” 

“You do,” Tony said. After all, most of what Loki did was to spite Thor. At least half of it. They had a very unhealthy relationship that tended to end in murder attempts and world domination. “You really do.” 

Thor nodded. “I hope to be the brothers we once were.” 

“If that doesn’t involve Loki taking over the Earth, I’m all for it.” 

*

As it turned out, and to nobody’s surprise, Loki didn’t want to see Thor. 

The second they entered the cell, Loki’s eyes widened and then he yelled, “Get him out of here!” 

“Brother, I merely—“

“I am not your brother, you idiot. I never was!” Loki’s voice was hoarse, and yet he still managed to drown out Thor’s voice. 

He also looked like hell, and the drugs had really screwed him over, along with whatever else SHIELD had done, but he still managed to come to life with anger upon seeing Thor. 

“I wish to talk,” Thor said, taking the seat across from him. Tony decided to stand awkwardly to the side because, well, there was only one chair in the room. Which was bad planning. Then again, Loki wasn’t exactly a guy with a lot of friends. 

“I don’t wish to talk,” Loki snarled. “You bring me nothing but pain. You’ve left me here with these mortals to suffer and you never listened to a single thing I’ve said in my entire life.” Now his voice was painfully shrill. Tony cringed. 

“That isn’t true,” Thor said. But his voice was quiet. Like he thought it might be true. 

“Yes it is. Do you know what I saw in the abyss?” 

A complete change of subject. Thor looked confused. “Loki—“ 

“I saw monsters,” Loki hissed, “and I was among them, a monster myself, because monsters were the only thing there, and they hurt and they tore and screamed and destroyed and I survived because I was one of them and the man you see before you never belonged to you. He is a monster, stolen from a temple as a child when he deserved to die—“

“No!” Thor cried. “Stop speaking these lies. You deserve to live,” and this gained him some incredulous looks from some of the agents, but, “and you are my brother.” 

“I saw you,” Loki continued, softer, “and every time you were my end.” 

Thor stared at him. “That isn’t true, Loki.” 

“Isn’t it?” 

A heavy silence hung in the air. 

Tony concluded that this impromptu therapy session wasn’t going well. 

“This is my life,” Loki said, after a moment. “I am the monster that everyone fears. I have known all my life and have seen it confirmed time and again. When you call me brother you lie. You could not possibly love a monster.” 

Silence, again. Then,

“That’s not true,” Thor said. “You merely lie to yourself.” 

“You lie to me!” Loki cried. He strained against his chains, as though he wanted to strangle Thor. But the chains held strong and Loki sagged against his chair and closed his eyes, exhausted. 

“Loki,” Thor said, “please, tell me what’s happened.” 

“It won’t change anything,” Loki said. 

“I can’t fix what I don’t know is broken,” Thor said. “What went wrong?” 

Loki laughed. “Everything.” 

“Not everything,” Thor insisted. “I still love you. You are still my brother.” 

“Even worse,” Loki said, tilting his head back to stare at the ceiling. “You can’t see it.” A tear ran down his cheek, which disturbed Tony because Loki didn’t seem conscious that he was crying. 

Truthfully, the whole conversation was becoming a bit too much. The self-hatred in the room was reaching astronomical proportions, and Thor’s presence wasn’t helping matters. Thor was, certainly, a good older brother, but not perfect. But perhaps good enough in the eyes of others that Loki had fell into his shadow. 

Tony certainly knew the feeling. 

“Show me,” Thor said. 

“I did,” Loki murmured, “but you refused. And I can’t, now, show you the monster, because they’ve taken me away from myself and poured chemicals in my veins, and I don’t know which me is me. Am I this Loki or the other?” 

“I don’t know what you mean,” Thor said. 

Loki lowered his gaze to Thor and narrowed his eyes. “Don’t you?” 

“Alright,” Tony interrupted, “I think we all know where this is headed.” 

Thor and Loki both turned to him. Natasha made a warning noise. Fury’s eye was twitching. 

“We can talk therapy and feelings all day,” Tony said, “but that’s probably for another time and place when we’re not in a prison and Loki isn’t drugged. Family talks are best done sober! I would know.” An uncomfortable pause followed this, and Tony decided to soldier on. “The point is, none of us know what Loki’s done with the Tesseract, or what’s actually going on here, how he got to Earth, whether we’re all in danger of being killed or ruled by some weird alien or something. For all I know Loki could be planning on blowing up SHIELD within the next five minutes. Let’s face it, we’re at a horrible disadvantage. And we’re sitting here talking about family relationships.” 

“I find this an important topic of discussion,” Thor said. 

“And it is,” Tony said, “but not right now. I know you wanted to talk to him. To be honest I was hoping it would last, like, five minutes. But this has gone on long enough. Coulson’s falling asleep.” 

Coulson raised an eyebrow at Tony because he actually hadn’t been falling asleep, but all he said was, “I believe Mr. Stark as a point.” 

“Yes he does,” Tony said with a grin. “So, Loki, Tesseract. Go.” 

Loki was silent. Not surprising, given the outburst of feelings he’d just sent in Thor’s general direction a few minutes ago. He actually looked as if he was trying very hard not to yell or scream. 

“Your move, Stark,” Fury said. 

Tony sighed. “Fine, fuck it. I think this session’s already gone to shit, personally. Can we try again tomorrow?” 

“That seems to be a sound idea,” Coulson said. 

“Good,” said Tony. “Let me know when I can come by.” 

And then he left. 

But he had no intention of waiting until tomorrow. 

*

The great thing about being Tony Stark was that Tony Stark could hack into basically anything and get away with it. He could cover his tracks no matter where he went, or how deep. And he had an awesome AI to help him. 

Within half an hour of getting back to his tower Tony locked himself in his work room and had JARVIS start hacking into SHIELD’s computer system, which in turn hacked into their security system in their New York City base, which in turn lead him to Loki’s cell. 

Loki’s cell had some fancy tech that stopped him from teleporting out. Tony frowned, wrote in a few lines of code, and turned that tech off. 

As far as bad ideas went, this was probably one of Tony’s worst. But he didn’t approve of SHIELD’s methods, and he knew that Loki wouldn’t tell anyone anything as long as he was locked up. They were fighting a useless battle. 

A few moments later, Loki disappeared from his cell. 

Tony felt a small spark of satisfaction. Disrupting SHIELD’s sense of superiority had been accomplished. Stopping them from torturing a prisoner was also a plus. Not to mention that they couldn’t prove that Tony had done it. They probably wouldn’t even get so far as to suspect him. They’d think that their tech failed, and that would be satisfying. 

Of course, there were no guarantees that Loki wouldn’t kill them all while they slept, or that he wouldn’t burn SHIELD to the ground. Alternatively, they might never see him again. Tony wasn’t actually sure which one was worse. 

Part of him, the genius part that sometimes bordered on sociopathic in its quest for knowledge, held the opinion that Loki not coming back would be worse, because then they wouldn’t know. And Tony wanted to know. 

No sooner had he banished the thought from his head than the air around him became charged with something, and a voice behind him said, “Thank you.” 

Tony whipped around. Loki stood there, now in his own leathers, in the middle of the work room, still looking a bit off but otherwise whole. 

“You’re welcome?” 

Loki took a step closer. “Stop me,” he said. 

“From what?” 

“From killing your friends, your SHIELD agents, from burning everything,” Loki hissed. “They deserve it.” 

“Ah.” Tony thought for a moment. “So you’re proving that you’re a monster, then.” 

“I have nothing to prove,” Loki said. “I am a monster.” 

“I mean, revenge is nice and all, but have you heard of mercy? Forgiveness?” 

“They don’t deserve it,” Loki snapped. 

“It’s not about what they deserve,” Tony said. “Besides, why come to me to ask me to stop you? If you really wanted to do it you would’ve done it already. Why ask me? What do I matter?”  
Loki seemed disturbed by this as he studied Tony. “What do you matter, indeed.” 

“But if I do matter, if it counts,” Tony said, “I’d rather you didn’t do that. Leave them alone. They do some things but I mean, you are dangerous. You had to have seen it coming.” 

“It is not the worst thing that has happened,” Loki said. “The question is, do you matter?” 

“Do I?” Tony asked. 

Loki gave him a long look. “What I said,” he said, “and perhaps what I say now will mean nothing later. The drugs still have their influence over me. Forget everything.” 

“Do you really believe all that stuff you said to Thor?” Tony asked. 

Loki suddenly appeared much closer to Tony, grabbing his shirt. “Everything,” he snarled. 

Tony wanted to ask whether Loki meant to repeat “forget everything” or that he believed everything, but Loki suddenly let him go and he had to concentrate on not falling. By the time he regained his balance, Loki was several paces away facing in the opposite direction. 

“If I mean anything I say,” he said, sounding distant, “then I mean this. I will not harm your Avengers, nor SHIELD,” and these names he said with disgust, “but should they come after me again, I will burn them. And I cannot promise the same for Thor.” 

“You and Thor should talk,” Tony said. “When you’re, you know, not drugged.” 

“The time is gone,” Loki said. 

“Wait.” 

Loki turned. 

“What did you do with the Tesseract?” 

Loki’s eyes flashed. “So, is that what you wanted from me?” 

“Yes.” Tony stood his ground. 

“All we are is used,” Loki murmured. Then he said, “Very well, Stark. I don’t have the Tesseract. I told you the truth.” 

“Then where is it?” Tony asked. 

“When you asked why I ended up on Earth, my answer was true,” Loki told him. “I had used my magic and mistakenly ended up here. I had used my magic to travel in time. I sent the Tesseract to the past.” 

Tony frowned. “That can’t be true. Why would you be telling me this if it were true? I expected a bit more resistance.” 

Loki grinned. “Why resist if the truth gives you no benefit?” he asked. “Listen to me, Stark. I sent the Tesseract back in time.” 

Understanding dawned on Tony. “And we can’t time travel.” 

“You can’t.” Loki’s smile disappeared. “As it turns out, I am the cause for much that goes wrong in this world, but it is better than the alternative. You cannot have the Tesseract. Asgard cannot have the Tesseract. Nobody shall have it.” 

“Where did you put it?” 

“I sent it back in time, and it was discovered by a man named Schmidt during your second world war,” Loki said. “Think of it as a small revenge for my defeat in this very city at the hand of your people. But also as a gift, I suppose.” 

“A gift, wait, what?” Tony asked. 

Something in Loki’s expression shifted. If he were anyone else, it might have been sadness. But Tony had no idea what he would be sad about. 

“Perhaps we may see each other again,” Loki said, “when you have use for me. Or I you.” 

“Oh, no,” Tony said, “we’re not gonna start that game again—“ 

But Loki disappeared, leaving not a trace behind. 

Tony stared at the spot where Loki had been. 

Then he thought about who found the Tesseract, and where Loki left it, and what that meant. 

And then he cried out, “Son of a bitch!” 

Small revenge, indeed.


End file.
